1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector housing, and more particularly to an electrical connector housing containing a power distributor “PD” panel that comprises a printed circuit board carrying semiconductor switching elements. One of the objects of the invention is to facilitate the maintenance of electrical connector housings.
2. Description of Related Art
Known electrical connector housings, such as junction boxes for onboard applications, e.g., in cars or other vehicles, carry a number of relays and fuses, and contain numerous connector-fitting members for linking busbars to wire harnesses.
Recently, as vehicles have begun to use an increased number of items of electrical equipment and electrical circuit systems, the number of relays implemented in the latter has also increased correspondingly. As a result, electrical connector housings have to lodge an increased number of parts and their size tends to increase.
In the face of such problems, recent developments have led to an electrical connector housing integrating a power distributor “PD” panel, in which the busbar and printed circuit board assembly are equipped with FET (field effect transistor) type semiconductor switching elements to replace mechanical relays. As the semiconductor switching elements are smaller and lighter than the conventional mechanical relays they replace, an electrical connector housing using such elements can be miniaturized considerably.
An example of such an electrical connector housing is disclosed, e.g., in JP-A-2001-319708, according to which the housing contains a power distributor portion equipped with semiconductor switching elements. The housing also includes busbars with which insulating sheets are interposed, and the terminals in the power distributor portion and the busbars are connected by overlapping and welding.
However, because the connections are made by welding, when the semiconductor switching elements are to be replaced for maintenance, the power distributor panel alone cannot be removed from the housing. It is also difficult to deal with changes, either when fuses are used in the link portion between the circuit in the power distributor panel and the busbar circuit at the power-source side, or when fuses are at the busbar circuit side. Further, as the power distributor portion is integrated with the busbars, its installation is not easy.